Whether planning to expand your product business's sales to a new Federal agency or expand your federal sales within a current department or command, territory planning software can help you do that and more. From organizing the activity of your sales team to assigning sales reps for each territory and managing leads to publishing reports, you will be able to effectively manage your product sales team's efforts using territory planning software. Territory planning is not about replying to a request for proposal and capture management. Territory planning is truly understanding a Federal sales reps territory: Current customer, Current pipeline and more importantly their white space - where to go to build their pipeline.

What Is Territory Planning Software?  

Territory planning software allows you to use data-driven insights to create a territory plan to maximize your coverages. From a management perspective, the software can help pair up the right sales rep with the right account in order to drive more revenue and it can automatically assign potential accounts or leads to specific sales representatives for each territory. From the perspective of a Federal Sales Rep, territory planning software can help to visualize the connections between various departments within an agency. This can essentially provide a map to understanding which departments to reach out to next and which contacts you could potentially leverage for the introduction.

In terms of specific tools, there are no federally-specific territory planning software on the market currently. We are in the process of developing FedSalesTracker to fill this gap but, in the meantime, you can download our free Territory Planning Tool Template to use.

3 Steps To Assigning Federal Territories Using Territory Planning Software 

Step #1: Segmentation of Your Customer Base 

Before you can begin leveraging your territory planning software, you must define who your target customers are and create segments. The following criteria are often used for segmenting your customer base:

  • Location: You can create different sales regions by physical location. If in-person meetings are key to your federal sales process, this can be a valuable segmentation tool to leverage and cut down on travel costs.
  • Size-based Segmentation: You can create customer segments based on the amount they spend with your business. This will enable you to focus on big fish in the sea, build a sales strategy, set goals, and assign a budget accordingly. You can also leverage this segment to ensure that sales reps have a healthy mix of large, medium and small accounts that they can effectively manage instead of too many large accounts that tasks are dropped.
  • Industry-based Segmentation: While this feature is very helpful in B2B sales, most territory planning software assigns all federal, state and local agencies under the singular Government industry, which is not quite as helpful for a B2G rep.  

In terms of federal government sales, the best method we have found for segmenting customer bases is to:

  • Identify your top-level federal territory (DoD, IC, Civilian Agencies, etc)
  • Outline all of the federal agencies, departments, bureaus etc. that fall under your top-level category
  • Document your territory: Current customer: Current Pipeline and White space or Addressable market

We have an entire guide on this process here: What Is Total Addressable Market And How To Identify Whitespace To Increase Your Sales.

Once you have this mapping you can then segment according to the size of your federal sales team. If you need help mapping and assigning territories, you can request a mini coaching session here and our team can help.   

Step #2: Group the Territories 

Once you have created segments based on your customers, territory planning software will allow you to finalize the territories using the following features:

  • Accounts Distribution: You will be able to identify the number of current accounts in each territory. Additionally, you will be able to analyze if certain territories are busier or have more potential than others. This will enable you to deploy more sales reps compared to other regions.  
  • Checking Prospect Availability: Territory planning software can help you evaluate if you have enough potential sales prospects in a specific territory.  

Step #3: Assigning Teams 

Once you have created territories, it is time to assign Federal sales reps. For example, you can deploy sales representatives to each territory based on experience such as a former Air Force personnel should ideally be assigned Air Force Commands where he/she can easily relate to prospects. In case you also have inexperienced sales reps on the team, you can assign smaller regions with high concentration.  

Territory planning software will analyze your sales teams’ skills and level of expertise and make a recommendation for each territory.

How To Use The Features of a Territory Planning Software 

Installation of territory planning software will allow you to make your sales operations faster. This is especially true if your business manages a large sales operation. Below are some key features to leverage when using Territory Planning Software to manage your Federal Sales Team.

Automation of Repetitive Activities 

You can use territory planning software to automate numerous repetitive tasks pertaining to processes. This helps you save a lot of time and effort. You will be able to create new territories and define rules so that software can automatically identify and assign new potential customers for each location.  

Similarly, you can define a rule that will help software accurately assign a sales rep to incoming contacts and leads automatically. As your team grows, you can use the software to define rules to apply various sales strategies and deals to other territories. One thing to keep in mind though is that the complexity of the Federal Market doesn't always fit perfectly into the assumed rules of B2B territory planning tools. This being said, you can definitely automate the processes but also consider a plan to quickly review the assignments for accuracy within your Federal Sales Territories specifically.

Modeling Scenarios 

Your software solution will run an analysis of the accumulated data and create sales models based on market conditions. This way, you will be able to view the total revenue for each territory based on a "what-if" scenario by analyzing account values and adjustment options.  

The software will also be able to apply to change business objectives and marketing trends and see how they impact your sales. This modeling feature can allow you to anticipate market volatility as well as capitalize on new opportunities.  

Making Sales Coverage Plans 

Some territory planning software will be able to predict the number of sales reps you will need to cover each territory for optimal leads and revenue generation. This is based on the potential revenue, the number of potential leads, and the size of the territory.

Performance Analysis 

From performance analysis for each territory to each sales rep, territory planning software will give you valuable insight to make adjustments to your federal sales strategy.  

Motivating Your Sales Team 

Motivation is key when managing sales reps and territory planning software allows you to send notifications and updates to your sales team and reps to keep their motivation levels up. You can share weekly, monthly or quarterly updates on performance as well as potential targets to appreciate your sales teams' efforts. This feeling of appreciation can help your territory sales team stay motivated while knowing potential targets they need to hit in the upcoming season.  

Set the Boundaries 

To work your territory using territory planning software allows you to set clear boundaries for each territory. Furthermore, you can impose limits on sales teams and reps regarding what customers and leads they can approach while never overlapping each other's sales area. Sales reps never like to feel that their territory is being encroached on by another rep and this feature supports that.

How To Choose The Right Territory Planning Software For Your Federal Sales Team?

This is the tricky part. As mentioned previously, there are no federally-specific territory planning software available on the market at this time. So while you can gain a lot of great insight from the available B2B tools, it will still require a lot of manual planning and oversight to fit the tool into your B2G sales process.

If you simply need a better way to visualize your territories and whitespace, then our free Territory Planning Tool Template may suffice.

If you need a more automated solution to managing your territories’ sales, a more robust territory planning software may be best (even with the manual configurations needed).

Above all, simply understanding and working your territories effectively can give you and your sales team a competitive edge over other players in the market. To learn more about federal sales territories and how to map and assign them effectively consider taking our OnDemand Federal Sales Certification Training course.

Have Questions About Federal Territory Planning?

We can help! Our team has successfully built several Federal sales startup practices and secured millions of dollars of revenue directly from the Federal market and our mission is to help other organizations do the same! Contact us below to get started:




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